Check-In Post - Aug 31st 2025

[badly_knitted]

Hello to all members, passers-by, curious onlookers, and shy lurkers, and welcome to our regular daily check-in post. Just leave a comment below to let us know how your current projects are progressing, or even if they're not.

Checking in is NOT compulsory, check in as often or as seldom as you want, this community isn't about pressure it's about encouragement, motivation, and support. Crafting is meant to be fun, and what's more fun than sharing achievements and seeing the wonderful things everyone else is creating?

There may also occasionally be questions, but again you don't have to answer them, they're just a way of getting to know each other a bit better.


This Week's Question: Share your favourite crafting tip, if you have one.


If anyone has any questions of their own about the community, or suggestions for tags, questions to be asked on the check-in posts, or if anyone is interested in playing check-in host for a week here on the community, which would entail putting up the daily check-in posts and responding to comments, go to the Questions & Suggestions post and leave a comment.

I now declare this Check-In OPEN!

Comments

[badly_knitted]

I got a late start with my writing today, which meant a late start to crafting, then an early finish because I had a massive pile of dishes to wash, so I only got 8 pumpkins stuffed, but that brings me to 40, which is all of the double-knit ones that I had stalks for. I've knitted two more stalks for the other two DK pumpkins, but they're not stitched up yet.


I still have 21 pumpkins in 4-ply to sew up and stuff, so I'll get them done first since I have the stalks ready for those.

[wiseheart]

Agriculture is a complicated thing - even if the products are of the knitted version. *g*

[badly_knitted]

Indeed *grins* Although, the knitted versions are easier to create successfully than growing pumpkins from seed...

[darkcedars]

Getting so many done!

[badly_knitted]

I am, but I think I might need more so I'll have to keep knitting. No point just making enough for this year...

[spiralicious]

Its looking as though you are going to have quite the bumper crop this year ;)

[badly_knitted]

I am hopeful there will be enough, by the time I'm done, to last a couple of years...

[spiralicious]

My fingers are crossed.

[badly_knitted]

Thanks!

[wiseheart]

Crafting was a bit subdued today. I worked a bit on the tinfoil garland project while watching telly with half an eye. Then I've sewn on the felt appliqués to the remaining eight pillow-cases and pinned the front and back panels of said pillow-cases together. The rest of the sewing will be fairly easy and straightforward and will be done one piece at a time.

[badly_knitted]

But you made progress with two projects, so yay!

[darkcedars]

Sounds relaxing, nothing to struggle on today.

[spiralicious]

Subdued progress is still progress.

[meridian_rose]

I love the idea of tinfoil garlands and it sounds like you're making progress with the pillow cases ;)

[darkcedars]

I've been doing nothing because we had COVID again. Husband was completely better after 3 days, I've been coughing for a solid week.

Today I made another set of headset covers. Thinking about starting a trivet, it would stand up to coughing.

Basically I feel well enough to want to do things, but am not well enough for most.

[badly_knitted]

Oh no! *sending magic healing vibes your way*

Hopefully trivet making won't prove too taxing for you.

[darkcedars]

It's better than cleaning, which is what I had been doing with every scrap of energy. Must sanitize!

[badly_knitted]

Oof, yes, you don't want to reinfect each other!

[spiralicious]

Hope you feel better soon.

[fadingfootsteps]

iiits posting week! for my writing. Or at least, it's posting week *tomorrow*. Sooo I'm a little busy <3

Doily has still made some progress though, I'm about a quarter of the way through row 41.

[spiralicious]

Good luck!

Well done on the doily!

[badly_knitted]

Good luck with your posting!

Well done on making doily progress despite not having much time for it.

[spiralicious]

Wednesday's workshop went great! At the beginning, there was a minor hiccup because of a minor miscommunication between the person who normally would lead the workshop and the library staff member that did set up. It was resolved before things even started.

I did the opening spiel about how to use (and not use) the supplies. My co-lead demonstrated while I spoke, and thankfully most people got it pretty quickly. It is hard to explain "open play time with acrylic inks. Do whatever you want, just don't break anything." People want step by step instructions. Luckily, all questions were things I could answer and the 3 hours went by pretty quickly.

In other news, I have sort of come to a decision about the yarn situation. I will continue to detangle for the time being, but the scarf is on hold. Once I reach an end of some sort in what I'm currently spooling, I'm going to knit up a small swatch and see how it survives the washing machine, then go from there.

[badly_knitted]

Yay! Glad the workshop went well!

That sounds very sensible with that awful yarn. Just don't put it in with anything that might wind up stained when the dye comes out of it though.

[spiralicious]

Thanks!

It will most likely go in all by it's lonesome. I don't need magenta on everything, lol.

I figure the point of that project from the workbook's perspective was to:

1) practice making decreases and increases - done

2) learn a new lace knitting pattern - also done

3) learn the joining technique they want you to learn for attaching scarves that knitted in halves and joined in the middle - I already have a scarf where both halves are knitted that need to be joined in the middle that uses the same technique, so I will be learning that there.

4) how to felt a finished project in the washing machine - my yarn experiment will do that.

So as I see it, even if I never finish this particular scarf, I will have learned what the workbook wanted me to. If I decide not to finish it, what there is of the scarf will probably become some sort of wall hanging. I've got no clue what I'm going to do with the horrible yarn though, if it fails it's test.

[badly_knitted]

That might be wisest.

As long as you've learned what you were aiming to learn, that's what matters.

I'm assuming a grafting technique of some description for joining. It's a handy skill.

If the yarn is that bad, I'd just get rid of it. Lesson learned.

[spiralicious]

Yeah, it's a pretty pattern, so I will probably try the scarf again with a different yarn. Yarn should not be this crazy making.

Yup, it's a grafting technique. It sounded quite handy.

I've been coming up with non yarn use ideas for it like stuffing, Halloween decor, sabotaging the laundry of my enemies...

[badly_knitted]

So true. Yarn that doesn't cooperate does not deserve too be called yarn.

It is a very handy technique to learn. I use a form of grafting for shoulder seams, although I still cast off loosely first. Makes for neater seams.

All much better uses for it than knitting.

[spiralicious]

I have been calling it Steve.

[badly_knitted]

As good a name as any!